RE: Rand and IRAQ

From: matus@matus1976.com
Date: Sat Jun 14 2003 - 02:26:15 MDT

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    Samatha commented:

    >
    > On Friday 13 June 2003 21:01, Damien Broderick wrote:
    > > At 08:30 PM 6/13/03 -0400, Michael Dickey wrote:
    > > >I feel Rand makes compelling arguments for an
    > > >objective basis for ethics, but I admit I am not yet
    > intelligent enough to
    > > >fully defend or even comprehend them.
    > >
    > > Ahem. Well, I have been wondering about this (idly, you
    > understand), since
    > > I assumed that you'd be a fan of Randian ethics. As I recall,
    > John Galt and
    > > all the other supermen of reason abandoned the suffering people of the
    > > world and beat their retreat to a high mountaintop, leaving the world to
    >
    > Inaccurate. They realized that the system as it was would never
    > ever help
    > "the suffering people of the world" and would make it impossible
    > for them to
    > do any real good. So they redrew that it might collapse under
    > its own weight
    > quickly. This arguably gave less net suffering and cleared the
    > ground for
    > something different faster than other possible courses of action.
    >
    > You are correct that no decent objectivist would support the
    > invasion of Iraq
    > imho. But that is a good thing. Most objectivist believe that
    > real change
    > will only come from change minds. I am not so sure that is a good thing.
    >
    >

    No decent objectivist? Interesting qualifier, I dont know what objectivists
    or Ayn Rand readers you follow, but reading articles on Aynrand.org and
    objectivistcenter.com reveal no opinions similiar to yours. Most of the
    articles I have found reprimend the bush administration for not taking a
    more formal moral stand against Iraq and Iran, insist on invading Iran as
    quickly as possible next, criticize the 'road map to peace' as nothing less
    than terrorist appeasement, and find both the Afghan war and Iraq war
    morally just, but I guess they arent 'decent' objectivists.

    Weighing War: How to Think About Iraq and North Korea
    "This author supports the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the long-term commitment
    to rebuild that country that must follow. "
    http://www.objectivistcenter.org/articles/wthomas_what-warrants-war.asp

    Israel’s right to self-defense
    http://www.objectivistcenter.org/articles/tbenshahar_israel-right-self-defen
    se.asp

    Treating like as like, Arafat and The Axis of Evil
    http://www.objectivistcenter.org/articles/sklein_arafat-axis-evil.asp

    The Justice of War
    http://www.objectivistcenter.org/articles/pstephens_justice-war.asp

    The Roots of Peace
    "But the argument against non-intervention goes deeper. A free nation has
    but one charge when it conducts foreign policy: To act in its own national
    interests. And just as it is not in an individual's interest to ignore the
    oppression of his friends and neighbors at the hands of governments and
    criminals, so it is not in a nation's best interests to ignore the suffering
    and oppression of freedom-seekers at the hands of tyrannies and terrorists."
    http://www.objectivistcenter.org/articles/pstephens_roots-peace.asp

    Ayn Rand on the deaths of Innocents in War
    http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/arwarquotes.html

    The Road to Victory Goes Through Tehran
    http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/roadtovictory.shtml

    Liberty, not democracy in Iraq
    http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/libertynotdemocracyiniraq.shtml

    They hate us too
    http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/theyhateustoo.shtml

    etc. etc.

    Michael Dickey



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